Britannia hotel killer failed to tell emergency services his lover was dead
A man failed to mention that his lover was lying dead in a pool just yards away from him when he called emergency services to tell them he had tried to kill himself, a court heard.
Gurminder Singh used a craft knife to repeatedly slash Amandeep Kaur Hothi at least 10 times in the neck during the attack in a bedroom at Wolverhampton's Britannia Hotel on March 5, a court heard.
After killing Mrs Hothi, who he knew as Simran Sandhu, the supermarket worker turned the knife on himself, striking several blows to his neck.
But Wolverhampton Crown Court was told that when the 29-year-old called the police the following morning, he only reported his own injuries and did not mention Mrs Hothi.
Mr Robert Price, prosecuting, said: "She was lying dead for more than 13 hours, yet when you called the police you told the operator you were in the room on your own.
"The only person you were interested in was yourself. You made the call to save your own skin."
Taking the stand to describe the attack, Singh said: "I had the knife in my hand. I put it to her neck. I did not know what was happening. There was darkness all around.
"She fell to the ground and when I heard a thud I suddenly jerked back. I thought to myself 'what are you doing?'"
Singh told the court he 'lost consciousness' and cannot remember stabbing Mrs Hothi after administering the first blow.
He continued: "I had no intention to hurt her. I had come to finish myself off, but her body was on the floor with blood all around."
The court heard Singh had travelled to Wolverhampton on March 5 armed with a craft knife he intended to use to kill himself if Mrs Hothi refused his advances.
He said he became upset and threatened to slash his wrists when Mrs Hothi told him she did not want to see him anymore and that she had married another man.
Singh said he lost control and knifed Mrs Hothi when he overheard her telling someone over the phone that she had 'been taken in by Gurminder's lures'.
Singh claims he did not know Mrs Hothi's real identity or that she was married with two children until police told him after his arrest.
Asked if he felt that he was the one who had been wronged, Singh replied: "Yes. Amandeep Kaur Hothi in the guise of Simran Sandhu betrayed me. She has ruined my life."
Singh, from Green Lane, Forest Gate, London, has admitted stabbing 29-year-old Mrs Hothi, but denies murder on the grounds that he was not in control of his actions.
The case continues on Monday.
